ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2019) Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi on Sunday described ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to Venezuela as a priority task amid the escalating political crisis in the Latin American country.
The statement comes as the issue of humanitarian aid deliveries to Venezuela, coordinated by the opposition, has become a matter of controversy amid Caracas' concerns that some countries could use them as a cover to achieve political or military objectives. On Saturday, three US Air Force planes carrying humanitarian cargo for Venezuela arrived in the Colombian border city of Cucuta. The Venezuelan government headed by President Nicolas Maduro so far has been refusing to accept aid that the United States has delivered to neighboring Colombia, blasting it as a ploy to topple his government.
"Our priority is to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people. As for political issues, we do not recognize the legitimacy of [Maduro's] re-election, while we recognize the legitimacy of the elections to the National Assembly," Milanesi said in an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper.
He added that Rome wanted to "facilitate reconciliation [in Venezuela] that will allow for new presidential election."
"Thus, we have the same goal as the majority of European countries," he stressed.
Italy, along with Ireland, Greece and Slovakia, earlier refused to follow other EU nations' lead in recognizing Juan Guaido, the speaker of the Venezuelan opposition-run National Assembly, as interim president. Moreover, according to a Sputnik source, Italy vetoed an EU joint statement that was supposed to recognize Guaido. Milanesi, however, joined the EU call for new presidential election in the country, disputing the legitimacy of the 2018 vote. Russia and China are among powers that support Maduro as the sole legitimate president of Venezuela.
